Rude Homecoming
by TVfan
Summary: Tenth in series Optimus Primal and his crew return to Cybertron, but they quickly find it to be something out of a nightmare. The Tripredicus Council appears to rule he planet, and they do not know how or why it happened.
1. Chapter 1

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-1Beast Wars and all characters and things related are copyright and trademark of Hasbro and Mainframe Entertainment. This work, however, is the original work of the author.

Note: This story takes place immediately after "Going Home".

Rude Homecoming

By TVfan

**Autobot Shuttle**

"Man, I can't wait to get home," Rattrap said with a smile, "Anyone wonder what they'll all say when we get there?"

"More then likely they'll be overjoyed that we survived and that we returned, and grateful that Megatron was captured to stand trial," Rhinox answered, "At least that will be the extent of their 'happy' reactions."

"What do ya mean 'happy reactions'?" Rattrap asked, "You make it sound like they won't like the fact that we're coming home."

"He is referring to my status, Vermin," Dinobot growled, "Your elders will not react well to me given my past allegiances."

"They might not react well to me either," Depthcharge commented with a sigh, "My hunt after X made me desert my post, although I would still say that I was justified in doing so."

"Man, I can't believe you're all a bunch of party poopers," Rattrap grumbled, "This should be a happy moment."

"We're all happy to be going home," Cheetor told his friend, "but I guess everyone is still a little tired from the events of the Beast Wars."

"And to some of us, this is more of a 'tourist' type situation," Silverbolt commented, "Remember that I've never been to Cybertron before."

"Then remember, you're comin' with me to this joint I know," Rattrap told the fuzor, "they have great oil and better company."

Silverbolt glanced over at Blackarachnia, who looked like she was trying to ignore the conversation.

"I think I'd better not," Silverbolt told the transmetal rat, "Something about it does not sound chivalrous."

"It doesn't good either," Wolffang added.

"None of you are any fun," Rattrap commented.

"Not everyone's definition of fun involves running around clubs of questionable moral character," Rapther said pointedly from her seat.

Optimus, meanwhile, tried to ignore the conversations going on behind him. It was mostly one he didn't need to enter into and much of the information that was being conveyed in it, was information that he already knew. He was joyous that he and his crew were finally going home after being stuck on prehistoric Earth for the Beast Wars, but he also knew the hard road he had ahead of him. Dinobot's past as a Predicon would not be viewed as favorable among the Maximal elders, and it would take all of Optimus's skills to persuade them that Dinobot's record as a Maximal in the Beast Wars would prevent the transmetal two raptor from being incarcerated. Depthcharge would be another issue he'd have to deal with, but technically he 'deserted' after his protectorate had been virtually annihilated and he 'deserted' to pursue one of the worst things the Maximals had ever done. That wouldn't be too hard to do, helping Dinobot would be the bigger issue and it was the one that stuck the most in his mind.

"We're about to drop out of transwarp," Optimus announced as the shuttle reached the coordinates for Cybertron at the present date.

Every optic looked forward as Optimus brought the shuttle out of transwarp space and activated the shuttle's standard sublight engines. What they saw shocked and surprised them, especially those who could remember what Cybertron looked like before the Axalon had taken off after the fleeing Darkside. While the planet still looked mechanical, it looked black, like a war greater then the Great War had ravaged the planet. Rhinox could spot a few weapons satellites orbiting Cybertron as well.

"This is Cybertron!" Tigerhawk asked in shock.

"It wasn't like this when we left," Optimus answered, failing to hide his own surprise at the situation, "It was technological, not natural the way Earth is, but it had a technological beauty to it. This looks like someone's practically destroyed the planet."

"Like its resources are being consumed for something else," Dinobot commented as he could see what looked like industrial smoke and smog covering much of Cybertron's atmosphere.

"But what?" Blackarachnia commented, noticing the pollution as well, "All the history tracks say that despite the industrialization that 'consumed' Cybertron, it was still a very clean planet. Humans could easily breathe there with no problems. What could someone be making there that could be doing all of this."

"We have a ship coming in," Rhinox commented as he looked at the one of the few scanning devices that were on the shuttle.

"Maybe they know what happened," Squeak suggested nervously.

They then looked out to see a starship identical in exterior design to the Darkside come up in front of them as it sat between two weapons satellites.

"That's a Predicon warship," Dinobot growled.

"Does this thing have any weapons?" Depthcharge asked.

"No," Rhinox sighed heavily as a communications signal came into the shuttle's small view screen that was on one of the side panels between Optimus and Rhinox.

Optimus looked at screen to see the face of a vile looking transformer on the screen.

"This is Optimus Primal, Captain of the lost ship Axalon," Optimus spoke clearly, "We are returning to Cybertron from our voyage and request an audience with the Maximal Elders."

"This is Captain Vile of the Tripredicus Defense Ship, Revenge," the transformer said in a threatening tone, "Surrender and prepare to be boarded."

"Tripredicus?" Cheetor asked from his seat.

"The Predicons are officially ruled by a council that goes under that name," Dinobot answered, "Megatron was a rebel against their authority."

"But then why doesn't he refer to himself as a Predicon?" Rapther asked, "I mean no Maximal refers to themselves as 'the Elders'."

"The Tripredicus Council is rumored to have origins different from that of ordinary Predicons," Dinobot growled.

"Different origins?" Optimus asked, "You don't mean to say they're descendents of Unicron?"

"That is the rumor, and the reason why Megatron rebelled against them," Dinobot answered, "He argued that they were not loyal to the Predicon cause. In that case I would not doubt that there is some truth behind Megatron's accusations."

"Uh, I think now is not the time to be discussing this," Cheetor commented pointing forward.

They looked to see the warship moving forward into an attack position above the shuttle.

"Does this thing have shields?" Cybershark asked.

"Not strong ones," Rhinox grumbled.

"Look out!" Airazor said urgently as he ship began to fire on them.

Optimus gunned the engines and dove down toward the darkened Cybertron. The Autobot shuttle would no stand up to the Tripredicus warship and certainly not the weapons satellites behind it. He managed to dodge the first few shots that the Revenge fired, but eventually one shot did manage to hit them and the Autobot shuttle began to spiral out of control towards Cybertron's surface. One of the weapons satellites turned and managed to make a glancing blow against the hull of the shuttle, but the shuttle was already crashing and the satellite's shot only added further damage to a doomed vessel.

"We're all gonna die!" Rattrap screamed as they descended rapidly to the surface of Cybertron.

"No we're not," Optimus said in a determined voice as he tried to level the shuttle's flight pattern out.

The attempt did not go well as the shuttle crashed through several buildings before finally coming to a stop after tearing up much of the road.

"See, we're still alive," Optimus spoke as the shuttle settled to a stop.

"Why would they fire on us?" Cheetor asked as everyone began to pull themselves back to their feet, "From what I remember, this 'Tripredicus Council' did want to keep the peace between the Maximals and Predicons."

"Peace does not mean they weren't plotting," Dinobot growled looking down, "And Megatron's actions at the start of the Beast Wars might have given them the opportunity to launch whatever plans they had."

"Could they have taken over Cybertron?" Rhinox asked.

"I would not have thought so," Dinobot sighed, "While the Tripredicus Council leads the Predicon Alliance, the number of Predicons that shared their origins to Unicron is very small, and there are few other Predicons that would follow them without question. The only thing that has kept the Predicons from fighting an internal civil war is that they have been fearful that if they fought each other, the Maximals would attack and destroy both of them. But then, the present situation might indicate that the were more powerful then many of us thought."

"But then we don't know if they did take over the planet," Airazor commented, "I mean we've seen one thing, but we've also been gone for a long time. Can we guarantee what happened on Cybertron during the Beast Wars?"

"We can't," Optimus sighed, "We'd best move to the Chamber of the Maximal Elders. That way we can deal with Megatron and possibly find out what has happened since the Beast Wars began."

"What if they aren't there?" Blackarachnia asked suspiciously, "Suppose the Tripredicus Council has taken over Cybertron. Wouldn't their first target be the Maximal Council of Elders?"

"We'll go there anyway," Optimus sighed again, "We might still find out what happened, and if not, the building is built like a fortress in its own right, and we should be able to hold out long enough to figure out a path of escape."

"We'd best get going," Silverbolt commented, "Whoever is commanding the 'Revenge' and its crew will come looking for us to make sure they didn't destroy us."

**Revenge's Bridge**

Vile looked onto a communications screen with the Tripredicus Council as he delivered his report.

"Your certain this Maximal said the name 'Optimus Primal'?" General Seaclamp questioned.

"Yes," Vile answered with a slight nod.

"Did you find out if they had Megatron and his followers with them?" General Cicadacon questioned.

"They fled before we had a chance to board them," Vile answered, "I've already sent scout ships down to the planet's surface to see if they survived."

"You jumped to boarding the vessel?" General Ramhorn demanded, "What in the name of all things possessed you to try boarding the vessel first."

"You did order me to defend Cybertron, should the Maximal and Predicon fleets return before the planet has been reformatted."

"Yes, but you should know that Optimus Primal for the past few years has been trapped on Prehistoric Earth fighting Megatron," General Cicadacon growled, "There is no way that they could know what has gone on here since they left."

"And since we do not know if Megatron was on the shuttle, it could be possible that he is alone on Prehistoric Earth and could very well threaten our rise to power," General Seaclamp added, "drawing him in through some polite deceit would easily allow us to gain the information that was most importantly needed."

"I apologize, sir," Vile answered, "I wasn't thinking. Should I land and go after them on foot?"

"No, they'll reach the resistance by that time," General Ramhorn responded, "We've already sent a division of drones to deal with them, or at least discover their strength."

"Very well," Vile nodded.

"You will, however return to your duty of patrolling the space around Cybertron," General Seaclamp ordered, "And you will of course recognize that gathering information is more important then rushing into a fight. If they show any signs of confusion, try to deceive them into giving up more information then what they would want to."

"Of course," Vile answered.

"Good," General Cicadacon finished, "Tripredicus Council out."

**Crash Site**

The group slowly made their way out of their crashed shuttle to look at what had been the capital of Cybertronian civilization. From the ground, Cybertron looked even worse then what it did from space. The streets were deserted, few lights seemed to be properly working, and the electronic signs that showed maps and locations and street names seemed to be missing from their standard spots. Many of the buildings also appeared to have evidence of battle damage to them.

"This is really Cybertron?" Silverbolt asked as he looked around.

"It wasn't always liked this ," Optimus sighed as they began leading out the Predicons that had survived the Beast Wars and had been captured when the Maximals won.

"Even the worst Predicon sectors weren't this bad," Dinobot commented.

"You see," Megatron growled, struggling in vain against the cuffs he was in, "They're destroying Cybertron and everything that everyone values. It is destroying the glory that should rightfully be the Predicons'."

"And you would have destroyed the fabric of space and time," Optimus answered firmly, "You are no different then whoever is behind this."

"The whole place still makes me nervous," Rhinox came up beside the Maximal commander, "There isn't anyone here. There should be more transformers here."

"Hopefully the Elders are still here," Optimus sighed, "They can give us some information that we will need to figure out what is going on."

"Uh, we got something coming," Squeak said pointing to the horizon.

"Optimus then turned as saw a large cloud of dust approaching them. 

He zoomed his optics in as far as they would go and found that it was a large number of tank-like robots approaching them. He sighed heavily as he saw they were all heavily armed.

"Whoever that Vile character was, he sent an army after us," Optimus sighed, "We need to get to the Council Chamber of the Maximal Elders and quickly. Dinobot, Depthcharge, Tigerhawk, I need you to cover our retreat while we move for that location as quickly as possible."

"What about us?" Airazor asked.

"I need you and the others to help make sure that Megatron and the rest of prisoners keep moving," Optimus answered, "They will likely try to slow us down in an attempt to try and escape."

The group slowly began moving out. Optimus lead one ground with the Predicon prisoners down a side street as the tank drones continued to advanced on the position. Meanwhile, Dinobot and Depthcharge stood in a position where they could easily fire down the street and deal with any transformer that attempted to launch a suicidal charge down it. Tigerhawk hovered in the air above them to provide air support. As the tank-like transformers approached they could see that the robots were largely blue in color with a silver 'head' and tank barrel, which was actually mounted on the side of the vehicle instead of in the center.

"They're all identical," Depthcharge grumbled.

"Drones," Dinobot grumbled most likely, "They won't have the ability to transform and their armor will be much weaker then even the weakest armor on a real transformer."

"Hopefully they are easer to deal with then what we had deal with on Earth," Depthcharge replied.

"We shall soon find out," Dinobot spoke as he readied his weapons.

After a few moments the tank drones came closer and then began firing on Tigerhawk, as the transmetal two fuzor was the most obvious target. He moved and ducked behind his wings, using them as a shield. The shots did only negligible damage to him.

"Their weapons aren't that powerful," Tigerhawk announced, "At least not against a transmetal two."

"Their strength is likely in their numbers," Dinobot snarled and fired his optics laser at the closest tank drone.

The raptor smiled as the laser destroyed one of the drones by direct impact and the resulting explosion destroyed the three drones that surrounded it. Depthcharge gave his own sort of smile and began firing at the front row of tank drones and watched as the blasts not only destroyed the drones that they hit, but also destroyed several of the other drones that surrounded the ones that were directly hit by each shot that Depthcharge fired. Tigerhawk then took advantage of the rising smoke and flying shrapnel, which slowed down the tank drones and fired a pair of feather missiles into the center of the formation, which did massive damage to the formation destroying several tank drones. Tigerhawk then dove down on the drones and began firing his gatling guns on the them, destroying several drones as he moved.

"This is not even worth of the name 'battle'," Dinobot smiled and then charged forward, firing his optics laser at several of the drones as he charged.

The laser blasts did significant damage to the drones, and while Dinobot did take fire in his charge, it did little to stagger him. After he finally reached one of the drones he sliced through the drone's barrel and decapitated it with his claws. The drone then slowly went offline. The battle then continued as it was. Tigerhawk made passes and dives on the drones while Depthcharge fired at them with his shark blaster. Dinobot moved among the exploding drones, destroying those that directly targeted him with his optics laser and destroying those that he could get to with his claws. After a few short moments, all of the drones were gone, and there was no sign of any immediate arrival of more drones.

"That was easy," Dinobot spoke as he looked over the battlefield that they had made of the street area, "How could these things take over Cybertron."

"The Tripredicus Council must have helped just enough to allow their numbers to insure that the others couldn't defeat them," Tigerhawk commented, "That must be the only explanation. We should be getting back to the others."

Dinobot and Depthcharge slowly nodded and began to follow Tigerhawk down the street that Optimus and the others had left down earlier.

**Elsewhere**

General Seaclamp sighed as the viewing screen went black as a largely white transformer slashed at the head of one of their tank drones. Three transformers had destroyed nearly one hundred tank drones without taking damage.

"That was a perfect waste of drones," General Seaclamp sighed, "Perhaps we should have sent Vile down after all. His ground troops would have done much better then those drones."

"Maybe," General Cicadacon commented, "But I believe we've learned something rather interesting about our opponents. Their design did not look entirely robotic."

"Yes," General Ramhorn nodded, "From what I could see, I would say their alternate modes were animalistic, not a vehicle."

"I guess we can only assume the same for the rest of Optimus Primal's band," General Seaclamp spoke, "And Megatron and his followers as well if his faction survived the conflict on Earth."

"A rather interesting development," General Cicadacon chuckled, "Animals on Cybertron."

"It is a mechanical planet," General Ramhorn growled, "and even if it wasn't, we must stop them before they join the resistance. If that happens, they'll make our problems much greater."

"Of course," General Cicadacon nodded, "I meant no disrespect, I just found the situation rather interesting."

"What is our next move?" General Seaclamp asked.

"Recall Vile and his forces to Cybertron," General Ramhorn spoke firmly, "Have him join up with Curser and move toward the old home of the Maximal Elders and tell them to take a battalion of drones with them as well."

**Council Building of the Maximal Elders**

"Maybe this is good news," Cheetor commented as the group finally approached the building, "If they can not stand up against a transformer, maybe they don't have control of the planet, just the space around it."

"Then why have all the streets been deserted?" Rattrap asked, "If the Tripredicus Council only controls the space around Cybertron, why did no one come out to help us when we 'landed'?"

"As much as I'd like to hope that they haven't taken over the planet, I'm afraid I'd have to agree with Rattrap," Optimus sighed, "This isn't even normal Predicon behavior."

"Like you know everything about Predicons," Megatron grumbled from his position among the other prisoners.

"I know they wouldn't just ignore a shuttle crashing through buildings," Optimus told the cuffed Predicon tyrant.

"So what do we do now?" Blackarachnia asked, "The Tripredicus Council will eventually figure out that their drones were destroyed."

"We try and get some information," Optimus sighed, "We've come into the middle of something that is rather strange for anyone. We need to find out what has gone on here while we were fighting the Beast Wars."

"There is a good possibility that the building is just as deserted as the rest of the planet appears to be," Rhinox told his commander.

"Maybe," Optimus sighed, "But there should be plenty of security cameras and records from that we can find that we can use to at least gain some information."

The group then slowly made their way into the building, which like the rest of Cybertron did not lack battle damage. As they made their way inside, they found several tank drones laying in fragments throughout the hallway.

"They made it inside," Depthcharge commented.

"Rattrap, take Cheetor and see what you can find in the main security areas," Optimus ordered, "It might give us some information on the attack here."

"Right," Rattrap answered.

Optimus then turned to the rest of the Maximals.

"The rest of you, take them into the main central rooms and hold Megatron and the other Predicons there," Optimus said with a sigh, "Rhinox and I will check out the Council Chamber."

Cheetor and Rattrap found the main security room to be in just as much disarray as the rest of the building. To their own surprise they found two offline Maximal transformers.

"This is an absolute horror," Cheetor spoke as they walked in.

"What I'm starting to get confused on is how could all of this have happened," Rattrap grumbled, "The Maximals are easily stronger in terms of numbers. And according to chopperface, the number of Predicons that share the Tripredicus Council's origins is relatively small… so how could they practically wipe out all of Cybertron?"

"I don't know," Cheetor sighed, "Maybe the rest of the Predicons were more loyal to the Tripredicus Council then Dinobot says."

"Maybe," Rattrap sighed, "but I still wouldn't get it."

The two then activated the main security camera. They watched on it as the Maximal Elders on the screen were discussing something when the doors suddenly exploded, knocking all of them over, or at least disorienting them. Several drones then attacked through the opening, firing on each distracted Maximal Elders. The Elders held their own against the drones, but the drones did land a few hits that did some minor damage. While this went on they watched as a series of shots came in from off-screen which did far more damage to each of the Elders, knocking them into stasis lock. The drones then swarmed them and kept firing.

"They… they…" Cheetor stuttered too horrified to speak clearly.

"We gotta tell Optimus," Rattrap said and the two quickly turned and left.

Optimus was completely horrified by what he saw. The building in which the Maximal Elders had meet was totally wrecked with bits of destroyed drones and damaged artwork and furniture, some of which had been gifts from Earth in gratitude for the Autobot's service in the Great War. All of that had been destroyed.

"I hope we'd get some sort of answer from all of this," Optimus sighed as he and Rhinox walked down the hallway, "I hope that things are only fairly rough, that everything hasn't been destroyed. That we'll find the Elders and the Maximal high command planning something to save Cybertron…"

"But you know that isn't what we're likely to find," Rhinox commented, stating what he and Optimus both knew.

"We have to hope for something though," Optimus commented.

Rhinox nodded as they continued on. The doors that lead to the room where the elders met in were blasted in as they arrived and that only added to Optimus's own private fears. As they entered room, they were confirmed. All of the Elders lay offline and on the ground with a great deal of damage being done to their bodies, looking, mostly as if whoever was firing at them was simply shooting them to mutilate their bodies and frames.

"How could they have done this?" Optimus asked, unable to accept what had happened to the Maximal Elders, "The drones that Tigerhawk, Depthcharge, and Dinobot fought were not strong enough to do much damage. The Elders were the strongest of all of us."

"They were the oldest of us," Rhinox answered, "Not the most powerful. Most of them were Autobots in the Great War. They've been in charge of the Maximal faction because of their age and wisdom. I highly doubt they are truly the most powerful of Maximals. You and Tigerhawk are in terms of a level of raw power probably equal to that of the Elders."

"Still, this shouldn't have happened," Optimus said firmly.

"Maybe," Rhinox sighed, "Although it wouldn't surprise me if some of the 'real' transformers that serve the Tripredicus Council are more powerful then we think. I mean, most of what we know about the Predicons is based of the history tracks of the Great War. Before the Beast Wars, none of us would have thought that a Predicon like Dinobot, who's sense of honor makes him very much like most Maximals, and would be the driving force behind his defection to our side, or that a Predicon like Blackarachnia would turn away from them for love. None of us knew that sort of thing was possible before the Beast Wars."

"In that we may have learned something," Optimus sighed, "Although, it won't really help us now. We need information about what happened here. No one appears to be here and the Elders are dead."

"We'll find someone," Rhinox said firmly, "Don't worry."

Optimus and Rhinox returned to the room where the others were waiting to find Cheetor and Rattrap come running.

"They killed the Elders," Cheetor reported quickly.

This produced a series of gasps from the other Maximals and what startled them more was Optimus's own reply.

"We know," Optimus spoke with a sigh, "And that means this building probably isn't safe."

"But how?" Airazor asked, "These are the Maximal Elders."

"It looked like an army of drones according to the security scans," Rattrap spoke up.

"Impossible," Depthcharge said finding it hard to believe all of this himself, and then gestured to Dinobot and Tigerhawk, "The drones that attacked us barely did any damage to my armor, and mine was the weakest of the three of us."

"They might have stronger drones, or they might have transformers who serve them who are far more powerful then we think," Optimus sighed, "At the present time, there is simply too much that we do not know."

They were then shocked to hear a voice that they had never heard before.

"And there is much to tell you," the voice said.

The group turned to see a moderate sized blue and brown, with some black, transformer standing near a concealed door that Optimus didn't know existed before.

"Come with me, if you want to live," the transformer said sounding deadly serious as the sounds of explosions racked the exterior of the building.

**To Be Continued…**

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	2. Chapter 2

Beast Wars and all characters and things related are copyright and trademark of Hasbro and Mainframe Entertainment. This work, however, is the original work of the author.

Note: This story takes place immediately after "Going Home".

Rude Homecoming, Chapter 2

By TVfan

**Maximal Elders Council Building**

Optimus stood looking extremely surprised at the smaller robot standing before him. He had come from what had to be a secret passageway, that he didn't know of, and that wasn't the only thing he found surprising. He was also startled by the transformer's message.

"Come with me if you want to live," the transformer spoke.

"What," Optimus spoke in a startled voice, "Who are you?"

"All of that can be answered in time," the transformer answered, "but it is not safe for you here. The drones will attack you soon, if they haven't already."

"We've already dealt with the Tripredicus Council's drones," Depthcharge spoke up, "they were completely ineffective."

"There must have only been a handful," the transformer answered, "and besides they do have strong followers that are quite powerful. You must follow me now. It is not safe here."

"We understand that things are dangerous at the present time," Rhinox spoke trying to sound diplomatic, "but we know very little s to what is going on, what has happened, and more importantly, why it's happened."

"As I said before, all your questions will be answered," the transformer replied, "but only after we've gotten to a safe place."

"Why?" Blackarachnia questioned as she forced her way forward, "For all we know, you're an agent of the Tripredicus Council and your purpose here is to lead us into a trap."

"I assure you that I am not," the transformer said firmly, "Now, I must insist that you come with me, before the Tripredicus Council attacks here again. If I served the Tripredicus Council, I would have been sent in a direct attack."

There was a brief silence before there was a sudden explosion outside, which made the room shudder

"What is that?" Squeak wondered nervously.

"That would be the Tripredicus Council's forces," the transformer spoke in an enraged voice, "You fools decided to doom yourselves by not listening to me."

"Can we evacuate?" Airazor asked.

"Not without slowing them down," Optimus sighed and turned to the transformer that had appeared out of nowhere, "can you help?"

"I can leave this passage open," the transformer answered, "and hope you are lucky enough to arrive at the location I intended to take you to."

The transformer then turned to leave when he was grabbed from behind and lifted into the air by Dinobot.

"I've heard enough of you're whining, coward," Dinobot growled, "If you can lead us to a competent person who can answer our questions, then you WILL do so. Leave the Tripredicus Council and its 'drones' to Optimus Primal."

The transformer then gulped in fear as he looked into Dinobot's glowing red optics.

"Alright, I'll lead you there but I can't fight their drones, especially if they got their normal transformers with them," the transformer gulped.

"You can put him down now, Dinobot," Optimus ordered.

Cheetor and Rattrap had returned to the group as a third explosion rocked the building.

"We ain't under attack, are we?" Rattrap asked as he and Cheetor made their way forward.

"Yes, and this bot here is going to help us get to a safe location and has promised to fill us in on what is happening," Optimus sighed, and then began to issue new orders, "Cheetor, Blackarachnia, Silverbolt, Airazor, and Cybershark, I'm going to need you to slow down their drones while the rest of us move our prisoners from the Beast Wars into the tunnels. Don't dig in to make a stand. Just buy us time to escape."

"Got it, big bot," Cheetor answered.

"Dinobot, Rapther, and Depthcharge will guard this entrance," Optimus continued, "Once we're all safely in the tunnel, you're to let Cheetor and his group know that it is time to come back here."

"What about the tunnel itself?" the transformer asked, "if the drones see it, they'll follow us to the sanctuary."

"I'll lay some charges," Rattrap volunteered, "we can set them off and collapse the tunnel behind us."

The rest of us will focus on evacuating," Optimus said firmly, "Now, move."

Cheetor carefully made his way toward a hallway that would lead toward the main entrance where they had entered the building earlier. The sound of explosions had stopped, but the transmetal two cheetah could still sense a heavy rumbling coming from the hallways ahead of him. He peeked around a corner and saw the hallway was full of the tank drones that Dinobot, Depthcharge, and Tigerhawk defeated earlier.

"Drones," Cheetor growled as softly as he could.

The lead drone saw him, however, and fired on the position. The blast hit the wall in front of Cheetor, and the resulting explosion threw the Maximal back. Cheetor quickly rolled away from the wall as the drones began firing on that one point. From that position, Cheetor looked at both himself and the wall. He found that the shot did no noticeable damage to him, but the repeated shots on the wall had nearly destroyed that section of the wall in its entirety.

Cheetor did not approach that section of the wall again and simply waited. After a few moments, the first of the drones appeared in front of the hallway he was waiting in. Cheetor quickly fired his own blaster and destroyed that drone. The resulting explosion also destroyed at least three other drones behind the first. The drones behind them then quickly charged into the hallway firing as they went. Cheetor fired again, destroying the drone that was the closest to him, and then pulled back down the hallway to set up his next ambush.

Blackarachnia, meanwhile walked silently in beast-mode along the roof of a different hallway that lead to the main entrance. Silverbolt was on the floor a few paces behind them. After a few moments the sound of rumbling engines could be heard.

"We strike hard and fast, and then pull back," Blackarachnia spoke, going over the tactical plan to slow down the drones.

"Of course," Silverbolt nodded.

As they came within sight of the approaching drones, they saw a massed number of tank drones, which filled the hallway. Before they could fire, Blackarachnia leaped from the ceiling and landed in the midst of the tank drones. From his position, Silverbolt saw several tank drones come to a stop after being injected with cybervenom. Silverbolt then contributed to the battle by firing several feather missiles into the front ranks of tank drones. As he got closer, Silverbolt saw that between poising some of the tank drones and laying down a barrier of cyberwebbing, Blackarachnia had stopped the drones's advance altogether as the drones would not fire on their own, even if only to fire on the Maximal fuzor and female Predicon.

"Well," Blackarachnia commented, "that stopped them."

"Yes," Silverbolt replied, "although, I wonder why they won't fire at us? Dinobot's report seemed to indicate that these things, in addition to not being very powerful are also not very smart."

A new voice then cut in before Blackarachnia could answer.

"That is because they're programmed to not fire on another drone," the voice spoke, which belonged to a blue cybertronian jet that flew up in front of them, transformed to its robot mode and simply hovered, "I am Curser, a pleasure to be you executioner today."

"I take it you serve the Tripredicus Council, legless one?" Blackarachnia accused.

"Of course," Curser answered, "They have the right to rule, and more importantly the power to rule."

Curser then activated a series of laser blasters that seemed to be mounted in his arms and shoulders. Blackarachnia and Silverbolt quickly dodged the shots, but they did do some damage to the floor, and without cover, both transformers had no option but to pull back.

"Running already?" Curser taunted, "I had thought you would provide me with a challenge."

"I'll give you a challenge," Blackarachnia growled and then activated the machine guns mounted in her beast mode's legs.

Curser was thrown back by the burst of machine gun bullets fired at him, and only a burst of fire from his own blasters stopped the transmetal two black widow spider's attack. His attack sent Blackarachnia flying and saved Curser from taking any more direct damage from Blackarachnia's guns. It didn't save him completely, however, as Silverbolt took advantage of the situation and fired his feather missiles at Curser sending the Tripredicus Council servant crashing into the tank drones below him.

"Are you alright, my love?" Silverbolt then asked as he approached Blackarachnia's side.

"Fine," Blackarachnia answered, "Nothing serious, although, he is a lot stronger then the drones."

Blackarachnia then got up to look back to where Curser had landed and sighed.

"We'd best pull back," Silverbolt advised, "He'll remove the barrier that you've set up to stop the drones soon, and without room to maneuver, we can't fight him and the drones."

"Just need to do one thing first," Blackarachnia spoke and the grabbed one of Silverbolt's feather missiles, pulled it out of its chamber and threw it at the ceiling over the drones.

The resulting explosion made part of the ceiling break apart, and soon after, large chunks of rubble began to fall on top of the stalled drones.

"Now we can go," Blackarachnia finished and lead Silverbolt down the hallway to a better spot to strike at Curser and the drones from again.

Airazor and Cybershark moved carefully through the hallways toward the main entrance. They could hear the sounds of battle echoing through the walls, indicating that the other groups were already involved in a battle already. The sound of the approaching drones was also getting louder. As they came to a corner, Airazor noticed that there was a door that could be shut. Before Cybershark walked through the door, Airazor hit a button that shut it and locked it.

"Wha… why did you do that?" Cybershark asked.

"They'll have to blast through the door and that will slow them down," Airazor told him, "we can then ambush them as they come through."

They didn't have long to wait. After a few moments, the rumbling stopped and the could hear the sound of something moving close to the door. Airazor and Cybershark then watched as something hit the door, leaving a large dent in it. It then hit the door again knocking it in. As the doors landed, Airazor and Cybershark saw a crane with a wrecking ball standing in front of several tank drones. It then took its robot mode, which Airazor recognized as the commander of the ship that had shot them down, Vile. The wrecking ball was now held like a whip with the massive wrecking ball at the end of the chain.

"Surrender now," Vile ordered as the tank drones moved around to aim their weapons at him.

Cybershark answered him by firing his missiles at Vile. The missiles hit the Tripredicus Council's servant squarely in the chest, throwing him into the drones behind them.

"Destroy them!" Vile screamed.

The drones then began firing on them, but not very accurate. Both Maximals fired back and dodged the shots coming in against them. The shots destroyed several drones and the shockwaves of the explosions threw Vile around while Cybershark and Airazor then pulled back and began to move for a position to ambush the drones again.

Vile, meanwhile, drug himself to his feet. He felt pain and knew that he had sustained some damage. He hoped to get a second shot at the two Maximals and was soon leading the charge.

"Come on," Vile urged the drones, "We can't let them get away."

Meanwhile, Dinobot, Rapther, and Depthcharge quietly stood guard as the rest of the Maximals and Predicon prisoners from the Beast Wars moved into the secret tunnel. Things were relatively quiet in their immediate vicinity, but they could hear the sounds of battle going on elsewhere in the building. Optimus remained behind to make sure that the captured Predicons cooperated. They largely did as they were too confused by the present situation to fight. As the last of the group entered the tunnel, Optimus then turned to Depthcharge.

"Okay, that appears to be everyone," Optimus sighed, "Signal the others and let them know that it is time for them to come back here."

"Of course," Depthcharge nodded.

While Depthcharge began contacting the teams that had been sent out to delay the drones, Optimus moved into the tunnel where Rattrap was setting the last of the charges.

"There," Rattrap sighed, "that's all I got."

"Will it work?" Optimus questioned, sounding somewhat ashamed that he was ordering the destruction of at least part of the building that the Maximal Elders had used as their 'Council Building'.

"Of course it'll work," Rattrap answered confidently, "by the time they dig all the rubble away, we'll be long gone."

"It's a shame we have to do this," Optimus commented.

"I'd say the bigger 'shame' is what the Tripredicus Council and its drones did to the Maximal Elders themselves," Rattrap retorted, "this place is only a building. Easily replaceable."

Optimus nodded, knowing that there was a great amount of truth in that.

"The others will be entering the tunnel soon," Optimus then spoke, "so make sure you're ready."

Cheetor was the first to arrive at the secret tunnel and quickly moved to enter it.

"They're right behind me," Cheetor reported and moved into the tunnel.

Cheetor then quickly disappeared down the tunnel. A moment later, Silverbolt, Blackarachnia, Cybershark, and Airazor came running. The Tripredicus Council's drones were right behind them, and they were not alone. Vile and Curser were moving quickly to try and catch up with their targets.

"Covering fire!" Depthcharge screamed the order and began firing away at the drones with his shark blaster.

Rapther and Dinobot quickly began firing as well, while the others approached them. Their fire forced the drones to pull back and try to find cover, which they only managed to do once there was a large pile of parts of destroyed drones littering the floor. Curser and Vile also pulled back slightly, using the drones as their own fire support.

"Who are those two?" Rapther asked, gesturing to Vile and Curser.

"The jet is called Curser," Blackarachnia answered, "I don't know who the crane is."

"The crane is Vile," Airazor spoke, "the commander of the ship that shot us down."

"How do they compare to the drones?" Dinobot asked.

"Much stronger then the drones," Silverbolt answered, "be careful."

Dinobot, Rapther, and Depthcharge kept up the covering fire as Blackarachnia, Silverbolt, Airazor, and Cybershark moved into the tunnel. It was easily strong enough to keep the drones at bay, but as the three remaining Maximals began to pull back, Curser and Vile grew more bold.

"You won't escape!" Curser screamed and flew head long at Depthcharge.

Depthcharge avoided the worst of Curser's shots, but one did nick his shoulder that threw him back against the wall. Rapther, however, caught Curser as he turned with a barrage of rockets, sending the jet crashing into a different wall. Rapther then moved to help Depthcharge get into the tunnel, leaving Dinobot to cover both of them. This time, Vile rushed forward.

Vile swung the wrecking ball whip in a direct attempt to knock Dinobot's head off of his shoulders, but the transmetal two raptor ducked under the attack and fired his optics laser. The shot hit Vile squarely in the chest, and pushed the Tripredicus Council servant back into the drones. Dinobot then ducked into the tunnel and shut the door.

"Get that door open!" Curser screamed as the door to the tunnel closed, "don't let them get away!"

The drones quickly began firing at the spot where the door was. After a few minutes of firing, the remaining drones managed to blast a hole where the door had been. Curser and Vile quickly rushed toward the opening. As they reached it though, they were startled by the beeping of the charges that Rattrap had left. They then exploded, throwing them and their drones across the room. Before blacked out, Vile saw the section of wall around that secret door collapse straight down.

**Tripredicus Council Chambers, Elsewhere**

General Seaclamp gave an extremely heavy sigh as the camera images from the drones processed the images of the battle. Adding Vile and Curser to the drones had not helped much. There were some drones still online, but they couldn't clear the rubble away.

"Well, that was a pointless waste of effort," General Seaclamp sighed.

"Optimus's followers are certainly powerful," General Ramhorn commented, "Despite how sinful it is the have animals on Cybertron."

"Maybe we ought to reconsider what we consider 'sinful'," General Cicadacon spoke, "If mechanical transformers won't cut it, maybe the use of animals as an alternate form might help us destroy the remaining resistance groups on Cybertron."

"I don't think it's quite an animal versus mechanics scenario," General Seaclamp spoke up, "Looking at these images, I would say that some of them have at least had their armor upgraded somehow."

"Upgraded?" General Ramhorn asked.

"Yes, look," General Seaclamp spoke bringing up a series of images.

One of the images was of Dinobot, Silverbolt, Depthcharge, and Airazor. General Seaclamp then began to point to each of the images.

"This femmebot's alternate mode is most definitely a species of falcon from the planet Earth," General Seaclamp explained, "and her armor clearly shows that, and a scientist could probably identify which specific species."

General Seaclamp then moved to the next image, "this one's armor is no different from the femmebot's, but he is noteworthy as somehow, he appears to have an alternate mode that would look like two creatures fused together, or at least like some strange alien light form. It is the last two that have clearly had their armor upgraded. One looks like his armor is a bright metal, and other then the obvious signs that his alternate mode is an animal, you'd think he is entirely mechanical. The last one is truly perplexing. While he has many of the armor characteristics of the other one, there is also something about his armor that is almost organic, if that is possible."

"How could they have done this?" General Ramhorn wondered.

"I don't know," General Seaclamp sighed, "but however they did it, they have improved the strength of their forces to a degree that at present we can not match."

"We need to capture one of them, preferably one of the advanced ones," General Cicadacon said firmly, "then we can figure out how their armor became so advanced."

"But they collapsed part of their own faction's headquarters," General Seaclamp spoke, "and we need to recover and repair Vile and Curser. We can't follow them."

"I'm afraid that if they've made contact with the resistance, we will soon have plenty of opportunities to capture one of them," General Ramhorn cut in.

**Underground**

The Maximals and their prisoners followed the new transformer through a literal maze of tunnels and staircases. Things were fairly quiet at that level with no sounds of battle, but the group was beginning to become impatient.

"Hey, where is this safe house you're talking about?" Rattrap demanded, "We've been walking for hours."

"We use several safe houses, all in the sub-levels of Cybertron," the transformer answered, "It's the only thing we can do to protect ourselves from the Tripredicus Council and their drones."

"But why do you have to do all this?" Mammoth asked, "How did they take over the planet?"

"I'm afraid that it is not my place to answer that question," the transformer sighed, "but I can tell you that the Tripredicus Council is stronger then the Maximals originally thought."

"Can you tell us your name?" Rhinox asked.

"I'm called 'Runner', as the Resistance has used me to take messages to other factions or contact groups that are returning to Cybertron, such as yourselves," the transformer answered.

"Resistance?" Waspinator asked, sounding confused.

The group the approached what appeared to be a large set of doors. Runner carefully moved forward and pushed one of the doors open. What the door lead to was a large almost arena-like room with a high domed roof. There were at least five other transformers there.

"So, who is this, Runner?" a large and powerfully built femmebot questioned from the center of the room.

"I did not get any names, but these are the passengers and crew of the ship that the Tripredicus Council shot down," Runner replied.

"Excuse, me," Optimus spoke as he stepped forward, "I am Optimus Primal, Captain of the starship Axalon."

"The Axalon?" the large femmebot spoke and then approached the group, walking amongst the prisoners of the Beast Wars, and stopped in front of Megatron, "and I suppose you're Megatron, the fool responsible for all of this."

"Ah, Queen," Megatron responded, "Good to see that your inability to grasp basic points of strategy are still in tact."

"You two know each other?" Optimus spoke in surprise as he turned around.

"Yes, Optimus, let me introduce you to Queen, one of the most foolish Predicons on Cybertron," Megatron spoke.

"It's you who is foolish, Megatron," Queen growled back, "Your whole plan to steal the Golden Disk opened the door for the current mess that everyone is in."

"I'm sorry, but we're all slightly behind on the events on Cybertron," Optimus spoke, "could you explain to us what is happening? What has happened?"

"Of course," Queen nodded, "come in and take a seat."

It took a moment or two, but the group was soon seated. Once they were ready, Queen began to explain what had happened.

"I will first tell you that there are many Predicons who have no qualms with fighting Maximals," Queen spoke, "and that most of us would willingly fight a war against the Maximals. Never forget that."

There was then a brief silence that occurred for a few moments before Queen continued.

"All of this began with Megatron's theft of the Golden Disk and your pursuit," Queen explained, "Your Council of Elders sent out representatives throughout the galaxy in this time to find you, Optimus Primal and some small combat teams to pursue Megatron. This weakened the space fleet that your elders maintained to defend Cybertron, which gave the Tripredicus Council their ideas for conquest. They would draw Maximal forces away from Cybertron and reducing Maximal strength on the planet itself."

The Maximals sat in quiet silence.

"The Tripredicus Council's next opportunity came when one of their outposts detected a transwarp shockwave," Queen continued, "They ordered a small group to act like they had gone rogue, like Megatron, and destroy the Maximal satellites around Cybertron. They then 'fled' to coordinates that the Tripredicus Council told them to go to. Your Elders urged 'cooperation in hunting these 'rogues' down. The Tripredicus Council agreed to provide intelligence while your Elders sent the remainder of their planetary defense forces out to hunt the 'rogues'."

Optimus then began to realize how the Tripredicus Council conquered Cybertron.

"Later, while the Maximals had no planetary defense outside of forces on the ground, they used stealth ships to destroy all the long range communications satellites and communications instillations on Cybertron or around it," Queen continued, "and blamed this on Megatron."

"Then while most of the Maximal defense forces were out chasing 'rogues', searching for me and my crew, or hunting Megatron," Optimus spoke, "You helped them attack while we had no defenses in place and no ability to communicate with anyone outside Cybertron."

"With the aide of the drones, yes," Queen replied, "Most Maximals that couldn't fight fled Cybertron and many others fled into the basement levels. It was only after that, that we realized that the Tripredicus Council was playing by different sets of rules."

There was an uneasy silence before Queen continued.

"Various loyal Predicons began disappearing or getting sick for no reason," Queen spoke, "After a while, many of us became suspicious of the Tripredicus Council's involvement. It was then that we uncovered the fact that no 'Unicron spawn' have vanished, and that sponsored further digging. We then found that the Tripredicus Council does not wish to conquer Cybertron for the Predicons but in Unicron's name, or something along those lines."

"Just as I thought," Megatron commented.

"You're the reason the Tripredicus Council had the opportunity to do this," Queen screamed back.

"You're BOTH at fault from where I'm sittin'," Rattrap commented.

"When we realized that we had been used, we began to fight back against the Tripredicus Council," Queen continued, "We soon ran into the various Maximal resistance groups that formed after we took out the Maximal forces. Once we explained the Tripredicus Council's actions an agreement to wipe the Tripredicus Council out together was agreed. We thus became the 'Resistance'. You've already met Runner, but there are also Grease, Bomb, Repair, and Wired."

"Sounds like the Great War," Cheetor commented, "Vehicles versus vehicles."

"Unfortunately, the Resistance members have no alternate mode," Queen told them, "Some of us have not had an alternate mode assigned and the few that did have lost their ability to switch between modes."

"Lost the ability?" Rhinox asked, "How is that possible?"

"We don't know," Queen answered, "I've heard that some of our scientists were working on weapons that could inhibit a transformer's ability to 'transform'."

"Tarantulus created such a weapon in the Beast Wars, but its effects were easily reversible, and the weapon was not durable," Optimus commented, "a decent sized rock or piece of debris could destroy it."

"We don't know how the Tripredicus Council did this," Queen repeated, "In the meantime, what do you mean 'Beast Wars'? Forgive me, but with the exception of Primal, I'd think that your alternate modes are something non-mechanical."

Optimus then sighed, "I guess it is now my turn to explain some things."

Optimus then began to explain the history of the Beast Wars, beginning with the theft of the Golden Disk and the space battle between the Axalon and the Darkside. The major events and battles soon followed with the detection of the energon deposits and the need for a 'beast mode' and the battles over the stasis pods. Then came the various alien interventions and the discovery that they were actually on Prehistoric Earth and that Megatron's real plan was to try and alter the past. He finished with the destruction of the Nemesis and the capture of Megatron.

"Well," Queen commented, "It would appear that you haven't been bored for lack of excitement either."

"Yes," Optimus nodded, "although I had hoped something like this could have been avoided."

"A common Maximal sentiment," Queen commented, "but it has happened. The real question is what are you going to do about it now?"

Optimus then turned to Rhinox and then back to Queen and sighed.

"I don't think there is much of choice," Optimus sighed, "Especially right now while we're in the dark in terms of knowing how strong the Tripredicus Council really is."

"So you will join the Resistance?" Queen asked.

"I will work with the Resistance," Optimus answered, "If you know Megatron and are unafraid to confront him, at the present time, I can not believe that you intend to restore the Cybertron as it was, but the Cybertron that briefly existed after you murdered the Maximal Elders."

"You need us," Queen insisted.

"Maybe to get a 'handle' on things, but not for much more," Optimus answered, "and if you've all lost your ability to 'transform' and don't know why, you need our help desperately."

"Can you help us?" Wired asked curiously.

It was Rhinox who answered.

"We might," Rhinox said carefully, "but we'd need to know how this was done to you first."

"You'd need equipment for that," Queen commented, "Equipment that thanks to the Tripredicus Council, no Resistance cell has."

"We can get the equipment," Optimus spoke, "the drones are completely ineffective against us and from what I was told on the way here, the transformers that serve the Tripredicus Council aren't much stronger."

"They're stronger then you think," Queen said firmly.

"Maybe, but they can't be invincible," Optimus retorted, "We can help improve the overall situation, but you will need to cooperate and work with us, not expect to command us."

"Very well," Queen responded, "What do you want to do first?"

"We gather equipment needed to find out what the Tripredicus Council did to prevent you from transforming," Optimus commented, "our robot modes are usually more powerful then our alternate modes, but that doesn't mean that being 'tapped' in our robot mode isn't a problem."

"What about the Tripredicus Council?" Queen asked, "they do patrol the underground levels of Cybertron."

"We'll do our best to defend this area," Optimus sighed, "Defeating them is going to take a lot of work, and may take a long time."

**The End…?**


End file.
